


hell for the company

by blackkat



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [15]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Drabble, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 23:03:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8597200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: For a prompt on my Tumblr: Have you read the version of the Persephone myth where Persephone wasn't abducted but wandered into the underworld under her free will and then refused to leave (to Hades's utter bemusement)? I read it recently and the only things in my head since is fed-up Persephone!Oro meeting bemused Hades!Sakumo after fighting from Zeus!Jiraya :P





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title is, of course, from Mark Twain's quote "Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."

The first sign that something’s happened is the sudden hush. 

Blinking, Sakumo lifts his head from his paperwork, trying to figure out what’s changed. It takes him several seconds to realize that Cerberus has stopped growling, even the quiet, low-level growl he constantly keeps up so that the souls of the dead won’t stray. That’s…unusual.

Wondering a little exasperatedly if Kotetsu and Izumo have decided yet again that being messenger gods gives them the right to blind his dog with flower petals so they can slip in, Sakumo sighs, puts his pen down, and runs his hands over his face. If they’re bringing him some poor lost soul looking to drag their loved one back to life, he’s going to yell at them. Things like that never end well, so why do they keep trying?

Pushing to his feet, he heads across the wide marble floor of the throne room, out into the grey dimness of Hades. Kakashi, perched on the far end of the steps with one of his friends, turns and casts a wary eye at him, but Sakumo gives him a cheerful smile and waves the worry off before it can start brewing. He’s simply going to turn the visitor away; it’s hardly something he needs help with.

He crosses the wide bridge, quickening his steps as he wonders how polite he should be. After all, he wants them to leave, not come back when—

 _Oh_.

There’s another god sitting at Cerberus’s feet, all three of the dogs heads vying for his attention. And Sakumo really, really can’t blame them, because surely there’s no lovely god in all the pantheon than this one. Not familiar, but then Sakumo stays in Hades most of the time. Maybe, he thinks a little dazedly, he should change that, if this god frequents Olympus.

“You know,” he says, and is pleased when it comes out smoothly, instead of getting tangled on his tongue, “most people don’t tend to like things that can eat them.”

The god casts him a look, and appraisal shifts into a swift, inviting smirk. He dusts off his hands, bats Cerberus’s middle head away, and rises to his feet. “Sakumo, I presume?” he asks, making to step up onto the bridge.

It’s absolutely automatic that Sakumo reaches out to offer him a hand. “I—um. Yes. Yes, I’m Sakumo, ruler of the underworld.” It takes far too much effort not to focus on the slim, graceful hand that settles in his, or the way light play off the fall of long black hair. “And you are?”

Golden eyes cast him a sideways glance, this time with a faint smile instead of a smirk. “Orochimaru, god of creation and destruction. I don’t suppose you’d care to invite me for dinner?”

Sakumo blinks, largely bewildered, but allows Orochimaru to tug him back towards the palace. “I would,” he says, casting a glance over his companion that he knows the other god sees, and smiling a little at the arched brow it earns him. “But it you eat anything while you’re here—”

Orochimaru waves that off with a careless flick of one hand. “I’m well aware of your rules here, I just want a solid excuse to rub in that idiot Jiraiya’s face when he comes whining after me.” He curls his fingers around Sakumo’s a little, casting a glance up at him through long lashes, and asks, “You’ll assist me, won’t you?”

“Certainly,” Sakumo returns, a little dazed, and he could be volunteering to hand over his crown and the keys to every last one of his vaults for all he knows. Not that he would care, as long as Orochimaru keeps smiling like that. Boldly, he pulls them to a halt, reaching out to catch a lock of long raven hair between his fingers. It’s as soft as the finest silk when he lifts it to his lips and bends his head to press a light kiss to it, watching golden eyes flare with something that looks very much like interest. Hiding his own smile, he offers, “My home is yours for as long as you require, lovely.”

“What a gentleman,” Orochimaru says, clearly amused, though there’s a spark of something else behind it as well. Sakumo just laughs, and leads the way into the lands of the dead.


End file.
